Population censuses and identity politics in the Republic of Croatia

This article explores the interrelation between the construction of ethnonational nomenclatures in population censuses and identity politics in the construction and representation of the ‘nation’ through the lens of ‘statistical objectivity’. Population census in the context of national identification and nation-building can be seen as a discursive practice. Through its performative effect, it objectifies the ethnonational nomenclature of the census and differentiating the social body into different identity categories through the effect of numbers, producing seemingly homogeneous ethnicised collectives in the public space. The politicization of the population census process is investigated by analysing the ambivalences in the individual-collective relations during the objectification of subjective categories of belonging, as well as by analysing the conceptualization and operationalization of these categories. The categories used in censuses and the methods employed in population censuses conducted after Croatia’s independence in 2001, 2011, and 2021 are analysed and compared.